In July 2021, Joel Bouchard decided to leave the Laval Rocket he had been coaching for three years and join the Anaheim Ducks’ organization to coach their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the San Diego Gulls. Bouchard had been offered the possibility to stay as the Rocket’s bench boss or make the jump to the NHL to be an assistant coach under Dominique Ducharme, but he declined both options and opted to move to San Diego. Two weeks later, Marc Bergevin announced Jean-François Houle was appointed as the new Rocket’s head coach. Today, John Sedgwick announced Houle and his coaching staff had all been given new contracts.
Houle’s Tenure to Date
In his three seasons at the helm of the Rocket, Houle has kept a 105-86-25 record and took his team to the Calder Cup semifinal in 2021-22. Laval lost in the qualifying round the following season and, last season, they failed to make the playoffs.
Back in 2021-22 when the Rocket made it to the Calder Cup semifinal, a young Cayden Primeau was doing excellent work in net. Even though he hasn’t had the most straightforward development, he has looked solid in Montreal’s net.
While it’s the nature of a coach’s job in the AHL to be at the mercy of the NHL’s team’s needs, Houle’s team was particularly depleted in the last two seasons with so many injuries hitting the Montreal Canadiens.
Still, Houle and his players kept their heads in the game and never stopped working towards their goal of making the playoffs. Even though they fell short, there is no denying Houle and his staff; assistant coach Martin Laperrière, goaltending coach Marco Marciano, and video coach Charles Juneau have done wonderful development work with the Canadiens’ best prospects and young players.
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Their work with Arber Xhekaj has been impressive, they’ve helped him clean up his defensive play. They made him realize that it was better to take his time to assess a situation than to move the puck as fast as possible and lose possession.
The young Logan Mailloux has also improved by leaps and bounds under their tutelage. There are still some aspects of his game to clean up, but he made a very good impression when he featured in the Canadiens’ final game last season.
What Houle Had to Say Today
Houle spoke to the media via Zoom this afternoon, and was of course asked a variety of questions. A couple stood out for me. Explaining his decision to stay the head coach he said:
“I like where the organization is heading. I think Laval is one of the best places to coach in the AHL and to play as well. Fans are at all the games and support us a lot. I also like the people I work with. That’s why it was important for me to stay here.”
Having been there quite a few times, I can confirm the Place Bell is a state-of-the-art arena and it gets rocking when that building is full to the brim. As for what the most rewarding part of his job is, Houle didn’t have to think at all before answering:
“Any player that goes up, I think it’s great. When we get the phone call, and we get to tell a player that he’s going to be playing his first game in the NHL, it’s a great feeling. Not only for the player, but for us coaches [too], because we have our hand in that and we’re there to support. It’s very rewarding as a coach when a guy gets called up.”
Houle should feel rewarded a lot in the next couple of years. The Canadiens have some exciting prospects who will be playing their first full seasons as professionals in 2024-25. The likes of David Reinbacher, Lane Hutson, Filip Mesar, and Owen Beck could all be spending the season in the AHL, or perhaps a part of it.
Furthermore, I believe it’s great for those who were already playing in Laval to have stability and be able to continue progressing with both an environment and a staff that they are familiar with. I’d also add that for the organization to renew the whole coaching staff’s contracts, even though they weren’t the ones to appoint them in the first place, they must have been doing pretty good work. One can now wonder how long it will be before the fate of the Canadiens’ assistant coaches is sealed.
